Here's A Good Example

[jetcitywoman]

We've had Capri for a little over a year before we got Ajax just about a month ago. The nice thing, I've found about the timing of that is that we have a great relationship with Capri. There's a lot of trust there on both sides, and I know exactly how she's likely to respond to almost any situation.

 

Which allows me to give her more leash on walks while I keep Ajax Ferret-brain on short leash. Even without the ferrety antics, he sometimes spooks at garbage trucks and other unexpected stuff. Miss Capri calmly stands behind me while I fuss with Ajax. Here's a specific example, that I don't actually advocate doing, but it just *happened*:

 

We'd only gotten several houses down the street when I decided to untwist their two leashes from each other because he was yanking her around too much. She's got the patience of job, but I try to moderate how much he stampedes her unwittingly. So I stopped and unclipped her leash and hooked a finger through her collar d-ring. I was just about to untangle her leash with my other hand, when he spun around for no reason other than general excitement and got his leash wrapped around his butt. He was blocked by Capri on one side, his leash tightly wrapped along the other side and behind so that it pulled him backwards, and the more he backed up the tighter it got... well, you guys have I'm sure been there...

 

He started to buck, so I had to let go of Capri's collar to calm him down and untangle his butt. She calmly stood there. Then I grabbed her collar again, just out of the principal of not leaving her loose to run and get hurt, and then untangled her leash and clipped it back on her. Phew.

 

I'm sorry if you guys get sick of me always talking about how much of an angle Capri is, but holy cow. She's about as perfect as God could have made her. To stand there totally off leash, and stand and wait for me to do what I needed to do.

 

And despite my descriptions, I wouldn't trade Ajax for anything. He's adorable and funny and I love him. He's just "different".

[JAJ2010]

Having a good one helps with the crazy fun ones! Capri needs some extra cookies

[Guest manders4]

What a good pup! I have a feeling it will take Daisy a long time to get to that point...

[Guest RocketDog]

Haha, I know the feeling... but in our case, we got the crazay one first!

[jetcitywoman]

It's okay to get the crazy one first. As long as you're not trying to deal with TWO crazies at the same time. I can't imagine how that would be!

[RobinM]

Glad it worked for you that way. We adopted after 6 weeks and had no problem bonding with Beau, our first.

[Guest Mollysmom10]

Thanks for that example -- we're thinking of adopting another, or fostering. We just got our little guy Fort less than two weeks ago, and he's awesome. I think he would do great w/ a buddy. Our first one was a little more nervous and I never felt comfortable even thinking of getting another one w/ her - I think she just thought she was human, she did not like other dogs at all. You gave me a pretty realistic view of how it could turn out...

[jetcitywoman]

Yep. Part of the lesson about getting one at a time, too, is that after having only Capri for a year, I knew she was bombproof. I know by now exactly what she is likely to do in any unexpected situation. I know pretty well the chances that she might bolt if something scares her. It's never 100% confidence, of course, but I know *pretty* well. So letting go of her collar didn't scare the bejesus out of me like it would have with any other dog. Yesterday, in fact I had to untangle the leashes again, but worked on his instead. There was no chance in hell that I would let got of HIS d-ring. I can already tell he'd be a car chaser at best, and a freaked out spook at worst if he ever got loose. Maybe he'll gain confidence and learn to trust me a year from now, like Capri does. But for now, gotta keep a tight hold on that boy.

[jenn8]

I make a slipknot with the leash handles and put them both on my right wrist. Then, when leashes get twisted, I just spin them around with my free hand while still attached to the doggies. This only works with two leashes though.

Jenn

[jetcitywoman]

Ajax is a 6-month old puppy in a 4-year old body. After a minute of him zigzagging, spinning in place, going around Capri in a circle, going around me in a circle, etc... the leashes are insanely tangled. He's slowly getting better about that, but I still need to untangle them occasionally. I prefer to keep both leashes on one hand, too, but even if I tie them together, he'll find a way to twist them until they're tied at the neck!

[Guest tinams8]

Capri sounds like a sweetheart!

 

I got an 18" traffic lead for Lucy because she was a lot like Ajax and could not figure out how to just walk and not trip anyone, stop short, turn around and start running in the opposite direction to get away from a scary cat, etc. It has helped a lot!

[rebeccamcl]

Have you tried a 2-handled leash with Ajax? I got a new collar for Davis, a blue one, and wanted a matching leash. however, the only one I could find had 2 handles: the regular loop at the end for the wrist, and a larger one near the clip that i could grab hold of to keep him right next to me. I never used that much, but when my sister would walk him she liked it, because he couldn't zig-zag in front of her all the time. It's a nice way to get them used to walking where they're "supposed" to walk, but still give them the freedom to sniff.

[moofie]

Capri sounds like a very good girl to stand there .

 

I just wrap the leads round one hand near the collar end so i can un-spiral the rest, i couldn't risk doing it your way as most my walks run alongside busy roads. I've found a short lead allowance helps with zig-zagging. I walk with both dogs on my inside away from the road and use my inside hand to shorten/lengthen the lead allowance for the dogs and then have both lead handles around my outside wrist. This way i can allow Throp wander to sniff by not holding his lead with my inside hand but keep hold of Hector's lead with a short allowance so he has to walk by my side. If you can try giving Ajax some walks on his own to work on the manners, so you can concentrate on him.

 

I understand the point you're making but thought i'd give the other side as I adopted my boys at 20months straight from their racing kennel. I didn't need to walk them both together for the first few weeks as DBF would help so i could work on getting Hector to walk nicely alone, Throp came with great lead manners and just plods along. I've had the lead clip fail on both dogs at one time or another and both have stood there thank god because they hadn't noticed they were off lead, i have a good bond with both dogs and know Throp would be more likely to stay close than Hector due to their personalities.

Its very much a personal choice as to what someone feels is right for their situation be it 1 dog, a brief spell before adding or a double adoption. Someone opting to adopt 2 at the same time i expect would be likely to walk the dogs together if that was a concern of a single carer or at least know if individually the dog is difficult to handle and they could possibly be taking on a bonded pair returned from a home with established manners.

[jetcitywoman]

Ah, great idea to get a two-handled leash. I've seen one so I know what you're talking about. That would be perfect, to rein him in when he's acting like a ferret, but occasionally let him loose to sniff and pee.

 

I'm learning his behavior patterns. He's a ferret-brain early in the walk when he's excited. Of course, duh! LOL After he's pottied and walked out some energy then he is clearly just as finely leash-trained as Capri is. When he's tired, he responds to the slightest tension on the leash, or simply the leash touching his shoulder. So he IS a good dog, just has a fairly high energy level.

 

Another amazing detail about having one dog for a while before adopting another: the "old" dog is an active partner in training the new dog! So far Capri has taught Ajax stairs, how to jump into the car, what the "down" hand signal means - even though I use a clicker, his mimicry of her is really accelerating his training. We haven't had him two full months yet, and I've never seen him do a natural, spontaneous sit, but he's already learning to sit on hand signal, too! Oh, and he's learning to beg by mimicking his sister. Wonnnnderfull....

[Guest LindsaySF]

I usually walk 6, and oh man the braid those leashes turn into. I unravel them all though, I'm too nervous to unclip the leash from the collar. You should look into a 2-handled leash or a coupler. I would use one if they made one for 3+ dogs.

[jetcitywoman]

I occasionally fantasize about some device to connect the collars to each other. Sort of like traces for a team of horses, I guess. something to keep them nice and orderly walking next to each other. But then the fantasy pops when I visualize the fights that would break out.

 

"mom! he's touching me!"

"am not!"

"are too! stop it!"

"arrr arrr arrrrghhhh"

 

[Guest mhall]

I completely know how you feel. Jasper is our absolutely perfect dog. We love him so much we brought home his sister 6 months after we got him. She is absolutely crazy When we first brought her home we walked her on a 4 foot leash and Jasper on a 6 foot leash so he had room to get away from her when she was being annoying and trying to walk right on top of him. She's better now, but has a ridiculously high prey drive so we still deal with the occasional "Emily spinning around to chase a rabbit and hog tying everyone with the leash" type scenario.

 

You might try walking yours in harnesses. My dogs don't like harnesses so I gave up on them, but I found that leashes got tangled a lot less when we were using them.

Edited September 14, 2010 by mhall